Structural performances of composite Concrete-steel pile foundation system with Energy storage media

Abstract

Rapid development in energy consumption caused worldwide depletion of natural sources and degradation of the environment; therefore, the use of renewable energy such as solar and wind energy has been highly promoted. Due to intermittency issues such as dependency on the climate and diurnal cycles, efficient ways of utilizing renewable energy needs to be developed. One of the alternatives is deep pile foundation with compressed air energy storage (CAES) system. Energy generated from solar panels or wind turbines is stored as a compressed air inside the pile foundation. Since it undergoes complex loads including structural loadings, soil effects and pressure induced from compressed air, thorough design and analysis are required to meet serviceability and durability performances of the system. This paper studies various pile design alternatives and their structural responses under these combined loadings. Extensive finite element analyses were performed to study the application of steel-concrete composite pile foundations. Based on the results, it was determined that the presence of steel tubes in composite pile foundation is efficient in preventing development of large cracks and ensures comparable performance for the dual functional system.